r wants. Not even
for her can I hold out my hand for a dole." They had now come back to
the door of the house, and Mr. Crawley, hardly conscious of what he
was doing, was preparing to enter.

"Will Mrs. Crawley be able to see me if I come in?" said the dean.

"Oh, stop; no; you had better not do so," said Mr. Crawley. "You, no
doubt, might be subject to infection, and then Mrs. Arabin would be
frightened."

"I do not care about it in the least," said the dean.

"But it is of no use; you had better not. Her room, I fear, is
quite unfit for you to see; and the whole house, you know, may be
infected." Dr. Arabin by this time was in the sitting-room; but
seeing that his friend was really anxious that he should not go
farther, he did not persist.

"It will be a comfort to us, at any rate, to know that Miss Robarts
is with her."

"The young lady is very good--very good indeed," said Crawley; "but
I trust she will return to her home to-morrow. It is impossible that
she should remain in so poor a house as mine. There will be nothing
here of all the things that she will want." The dean thought that
Lucy Robarts's wants during her present occupation of nursing would
not be so numerous as to make her continued sojourn in Mrs. Crawley's
sick room impossible, and therefore took his leave with a satisfied
conviction that the poor lady would not be left wholly to the
somewhat unskilful nursing of her husband.

CHAPTER XXXVII

Mr. Sowerby without Company

And now there were going to be wondrous doings in West Barsetshire,
and men's minds were much disturbed. The fiat had gone forth from the
high places, and the Queen had dissolved her faithful Commons. The
giants, finding that they could effect little or nothing with the old
House, had resolved to try what a new venture would do for them, and
the hubbub of a general election was to pervade the country. This
produced no inconsiderable irritation and annoyance, for the House
was not as yet quite three years old; and members of Parliament,
though they naturally feel a constitutional pleasure in meeting
their friends and in pressing the hands of their constituents, are,
nevertheless, so far akin to the lower order of humanity that they
appreciate the danger of losing their seats; and the certainty of
a considerable outlay in their endeavours to retain them is not
agreeable to the legislative mind. Never did the old family fury
between the gods and giants rage higher th